There’s a revolution happening. Sparked by the lockdowns of the last year and a half, office setups as we know it is changing rapidly and businesses are struggling to keep up. Up until now, most employees would head to an office, clock in, do their work, and leave after their shift for roughly five days a week. It was all very simple, reliable, practical, even predictable – but boring.
When the unpredictability of 2020 flung the world into chaos, something good came out of it. Many people learned from a hybrid schedule that they quite enjoy having a balance of virtual and in-person working. One company, French collaboration solution developer Klaxoon, is trying to capitalize off of this shift with two new products, Hybridity and Board Hybrid.
New products for hybrid work
At VivaTech 2021, Klaxoon unveiled Hybridity and Board Hybrid designed specifically to complement this “new era of hybrid work” as everyone continues to work remotely. With the future of work in mind, the company set out to create a product that would promote effective communication, collaboration, and demonstration of ideas in an intuitive and user-friendly manner between remote users.
Hybridity
The hardware, or shell, as one may call it – though it’s so much more – is the Hybridity, a modular 5-square-meter room of sorts that can fit up to three people. Inside is what Klaxoon calls the “infinite whiteboard,” consisting of three “giant” ultra-high-resolution 360° touch screens. These can run independently or be coordinated to display anything to a large audience of viewers, from an impactful presentation to a collage of photos. Overall, the Hybridity offers a whopping 10-square-meters of screen space.
It also has three built-in cameras as well as outside screens to aid in smooth and simple virtual interactions. “Hybridity can also be used offline, with no internet connection, for [meetings] that require a high level of confidentiality,” Klaxoon explains. While some may say it seems uncomfortably small and tight for three people, it makes this little office easily moveable, needing no dismantling and only a pallet truck for transport.
Board Hybrid
Board Hybrid is the software inside, the meat of it all. This solution serves to synthesize all of the major components of a meeting, workshop, or brainstorming session into one spot. Up to fifty participants can join a meeting on the service and up to 250 people can join as a viewing audience.
With ultra-lightweight video and audio that takes up little bandwidth, users can “make meetings more dynamic.” Users can also “import and view any type of content and files in a single place” for everyone to easily access all the resources they need in one place.
The service is also ridiculously customizable, with options ranging from wallpapers to meeting times, to various tools that aid in the organization of information, such as mind maps and flowcharts, all working together in one unified space. Users can even plug in their favorite video conferencing services such as Zoom or Google Meet into the software.
Working towards efficiency
CEO and founder Matthieu Beucher explained that the goal of these two products and that of Klaxoon itself is to “help teams develop ideas together more efficiently and shake off the shackles of time and space while creating a more comfortable workspace for everyone.” Hybridity and Board Hybrid are just some of the tools that help people adapt to the future of working together.
Catalyzed by COVID-19, the era of traditional workflow is coming to a close. So, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea at all for business owners to keep a close eye on products such as these as well as what other trends and shifts will follow such a globally shocking occurrence. Maybe this could also help as an alternative for tools like Smartsheet. As far as pricing goes, the Board Hybrid is available for €9.90 per month. Meanwhile, the Hybridity is available for pre-order and it will launch in September for €1,990 per month.
YouTube: Board Hybrid – the all-in-one, visual, collaborative tool designed for hybrid work
Photo credit: The images are owned by Klaxoon and have been provided for press usage.
Source: VivaTech
